Tesla names Robyn Denholm as new chair to replace Elon Musk

November 9, 2018 — 8.46pm

Six weeks after settling a securities-fraud lawsuit with federal regulators, Tesla and Elon Musk have made good on one of the agreement's key provisions — naming a new board chief to impose order on a company whose automaking has often been overshadowed by Musk's behaviour.

The company said a current director, Robyn Denholm, would become its chairwoman immediately. Musk stepped down as chairman last month but remains Tesla's chief executive.

Denholm, 55, is the chief financial officer of Telstra, which dominates telecommunications in Australia. She is a longtime technology executive with experience in Silicon Valley, where Tesla is based, and once worked for Toyota in Australia.

In late September, Musk, who remains chief executive, agreed to step down as chair for three years.Credit:AP

The move to replace Musk as chairman, announced late on Wednesday night, was part of a settlement reached with the Securities and Exchange Commission in September to deal with the fallout from his assertion that he had secured funding for a private buyout of the company. That claim, in a Twitter post in August, quickly fell into doubt. (Musk later explained in a blog post that discussions with Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund led him to believe that it had both money and enthusiasm for such a deal.)

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Under the settlement, Tesla agreed to name a new leader for the board, splitting those responsibilities from Musk's post as chief executive, by next Tuesday.

Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, said the appointment of Denholm "technically complies" with the SEC settlement, but he questioned how much Denholm would be able to push back against a forceful personality like Musk.

"If the goal is to provide adult supervision, it won't accomplish that," Gordon said. "She's been on the board through all of the shenanigans. She never resigned in protest. She is a Musk supporter. If it doesn't work out, she will be the one who leaves. It won't be Musk who leaves."